Pintrest for Your Business
Pinterest is the the fastest growing social network on the web. It’s based on the idea that users will share (“pin”) images and videos from all over the internet. These images are pinned with a link back to the original website, so when a Pinterest user clicks on the image, they are taken to the website the image came from. Once someone “Pins” an image, other users can then repin, comment on, or “like” that image. Each repin also creates a backlinks to the original website.
Imagine how much traffic you could possibly drive back to your site through images of your products being pinned & repinned! Imagine the traffic, visitors to your site and potential customers you could be missing out on but not taking advantage of this sharing network.
How can a business promote themselves using Pinterest?
The first thing you need to do is create a Pinterest account for your business. The site is still invite-only so you can either request an invite from Pinterest or from one of your friends that is already a member. Once you have an account, create “boards” for different aspects of your business or website.
Let’s say you have a home decor store…your pinterest boards might include:
- professional photos of your products (linking the product page if you have an e-commerce store)
- photos of customers in the process of using your products (also linking to the product page, these are valuable backlinks)
- aspirational photos – boards for things you like that still relates to your brand ie. ‘my ideal house’.
- relating topics boards – if you are a home decor store you may create a crafting board or DIY project board.
The second thing you need to do is to make your website “pinterestable”, by encouraging your site visitors to pin your images or videos.
I’m sure you already have social links on each page of your website to “tweet this”, “like this on Facebook”, “+1” etc. (if you don’t you should have!), you can add a “Pin this!” button too. Making it as easy as possible for your site visitors will increase the likelihood of them sharing your page. The “Pin this!” button can act like a call to action, reminding readers that they can share your page.
Encourage your employees to set up their own accounts. Build a reputation as an expert in your industry by letting your staff showcase how passionate they are about your field. For example, I have boards set up that show examples of my company’s services (ie. email marketing) but more importantly I can demonstrate that I am a tuned in part of the design community by being active on this network.
This one’s important…make your images appealing. With Pinterest’s focus being so strongly on the visual appeal it means that many users pin images purely for what they look like, regardless of the rest of the page. Making sure that every page of your site, and every blog post, has an image that people are likely to admire, and want to share with their friends, increases your chances of getting “pinned”. If the image is really great, then it will be repinned over and over, each time linking back to your website.
Having a website that users want to share on Pinterest gives you a great opportunity to drive traffic through the backlinks, as well as attract new visitors to your website with just a little thought and planning.
Who’s already here? Some major brands using Pinterest include:
